1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for archiving data from a sensor array along with metadata that facilitates later retrieval of the archived data. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, in a system for identifying and locating an acoustic event, the present invention provides a system and method for collecting, storing, and indexing raw data from detected events for efficient subsequent review.
2. Background of the Invention
Gunfire and sniper detection systems are generally known in the art. Such systems can be broadly grouped into three categories: systems which pinpoint the precise location of the source of gunfire; azimuthal sensors which provide an indication of the radial direction to the source of gunfire; and proximity sensors which merely provide an indication that nearby gunfire was detected. While such systems have been demonstrated to perform well in both law enforcement and military applications, the entire field is presently an emerging technology.
In many large cities, gun-related violence has become a plague of epidemic proportions. Urban gunfire, whether crime-related or celebratory in nature, results in thousands of deaths per year in the United States alone. Gunfire location systems, such as those installed in the Redwood City, Calif., Glendale, Ariz., Willowbrook, Calif., City of Industry, Calif., and Charleston, S.C. areas, have proven to be effective in reducing law enforcement response time to detected gunfire, apprehending criminals, collecting evidence, and reducing the occurrence of celebratory gunfire. One such system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,998, issued to Showen, et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
Showen, et al., discloses a system wherein sensors are placed at a density of roughly six to ten sensors per square mile. Audio information is sent to a computer at a central location and processed to: detect a gunshot; determine a time of arrival for the gunshot at each sensor; and calculate a location of the shooter from the difference in the times of arrival at three or more sensors. Showen, et al. takes advantage of the long propagation distance of gunfire to place sensors in a relatively sparse array so that only a few of the sensors can detect the gunfire. This permits the processor to ignore impulsive events which only reach one sensor—a concept called “spatial filtering.” This concept of spatial filtering radically reduces the sensor density compared to predecessor systems, which require as many as 80 sensors per square mile.
Another gunshot location system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,587 issued to Patterson, et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Patterson, et al. discloses a system wherein audio information is processed within each sensor to detect a gunshot and determine a time of arrival at the sensor. Time of arrival information, as determined from a synchronized clock, is then transmitted wirelessly by each sensor to a computer at a centralized location where a location of the shooter is calculated in the same manner as in the Showen, et al. system.
As yet, azimuthal systems have not been as widely accepted as, for example, the Showen, et al. system. Azimuthal sensors typically employ one or more closely-spaced sensors, where each sensor includes several microphones arranged in a small geometric array. A radial direction can be determined by measuring the differences in arrival times at the various microphones at a particular sensor. Presently such systems suffer from somewhat limited accuracy in the determination of the radial angle. When two or more azimuthal sensors are used to locate a source location by finding the intersection of indicated radial angles, angular error translates into positional error. Since errors in the radial angle result in ever increasing positional error as the distance from the sensor to the source increases, the reported position will be especially suspect toward the outer limits of the sensor's range.
While present gunshot detection systems provide nearly immediate information about an event, it has heretofore been overlooked that the audio data surrounding the event may provide investigative leads or be rich in evidentiary value. For example, the raw audio data might be used by an expert in weapon types to identify the specific model of weapon used, or by an automotive expert to gain information about the type of car used in a drive-by shooting. Further, it has also been overlooked that, if the audio data is stored along with time information, the data from mislocated, or unlocated, events can be later processed to determine a correct source location, and an exact time at which the event occurred.
Past inventions also do not allow the use of audio information to test the veracity of a witness. For example, a person may claim to have been shot in an area near a sensor at a time when an automated gunshot location system did not report any gunfire. This could be because of a failure of the gunshot location system or it could be because of inaccuracies in the story of the witness. To determine the truth of the situation, the data collected by the system could be rescanned over the period of interest to ensure that no gunshots were detected on any channel during this time.
Even if a time frame is narrowed down to an hour, or so, the task of reviewing data from each sensor of an array, would be daunting. Searching an hour of data from a sixteen sensor array would consume two man work days. Further, if data is stored remote from the user, the time required to retrieve hour long audio files from a plurality of sensors would require large amounts of time. As it is thus infeasible for a user to download and listen to even fairly short time periods of data across multiple sensor channels in a timely manner, there is a need for a method to facilitate the review of large amounts of remotely stored data.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for storing data from a sensor array which overcomes the problems and alleviates the needs discussed above.